Exploring thyroid eye disease in Brazil: insights from a single-center study.

OBJECTIVE

Graves' disease (GD) is the leading cause of hyperthyroidism globally, with 40% of affected individuals developing thyroid eye disease (TED). Treatment options for TED have advanced in recent years. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of TED at a single center in Brazil, contributing more robust data for cost-analysis studies assessing the financial implications of novel TED treatments. Subjects and.

METHODS

This study evaluated the clinical histories of 660 patients diagnosed with GD from 1999 to 2019. The patients were categorized into four groups based on the presence and severity of TED.

RESULTS

The prevalence of TED within the study population, categorized according to severity, was as follows: absent (n = 325; 49%), mild (n = 221; 33%), moderate to severe (n = 107; 16%), and sight-threatening (n = 7; 1%). A significant correlation was observed between older age at diagnosis, smoking, larger goiters, and the presence and severity of TED.

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of TED identified in this single-center study contributes valuable insights for the design of cost-analysis studies and the assessment of the financial implications of novel treatments for TED within both the public and private healthcare systems in Brazil.